Twyfelfontein – Doros Crater Concession Area – Divorce Pass – Ugab – Rhino Camp
The sun was already up when we woke, which was late for us. Living an outdoor life usually meant we woke up as it was getting light, and just before the sun burned the world. The village was already moving , and we heard people on the path running through the campsite. We felt disoriented.
When the leaf spring broke I assumed it was the end of our plans, but Bushlore were so prompt mending it, we could now continue with the last few days of our holiday. So, we had a choice. The lost day meant we didn’t have time to overnight in Desolation Valley, and then go to Rhino Camp. But, we could go to the South of the Twyfelfontein mountain range, and get to Rhino Camp the same way we had come, several weeks ago.
The ‘safe’ alternative was to stick to the more tourist main gravel road, and staying at one of the sophisticated camps like Madisa, with its swimming pool and restaurant. It was ‘safe’ because if we had a further breakdown it would be easier to get repaired or recovered. I didn’t know how secure the roadside repair by Bushlore made in the dark was. I had come to love the unsophisticated bush camps, and our remote 4 x 4 tracks. But I worried whether the repair would hold out. Nigel had watched them make the repair, and assured me that it was good, so we decided to continue to Rhino Camp via the Doros Crater Concession area.
As we were deciding what to do, Philip the camp manager came by with his wife and small child. He was amused to see us camping in the same place we had left the previous morning. We explained what had happened. He stayed chatting for a while, and was fascinating. He was clearly very well educated, and had worked his way to manage this camp. He also acted as a wildlife guide for anyone staying at the camp.
We got talking about being charged by an elephant, and that set him off on his stories. It was lovely learning a little about his life. He then told us of the elephant who came to the village last year.
A cautionary tale of being drunk in Africa
Last year the elephants moved into an area around Twyfelfontein village. Whenever elephants or lions move in to the area, the villagers are warned to be careful and not go out at night.
One night, two people from 4 km away came to the village and got drunk. The villagers begged them to stay for the night, but they insisted on walking home.
On the way they met the bull elephant. He charged and they ran. One fell and the elephant killed him. It was really nasty, and the elephant left him in pieces. When it was over the elephant kicked sand over his body, just as they do when one of their own dies.
Sadly, the elephant had to pay the price. The various ministries were told, and decided that once an elephant had killed, it could not be trusted. The elephant was killed within a week, and elephant meat was distributed to the villagers
After a lovely chat with Philip we packed, paid, re-filled our water tanks and left Aba Huab Community Camp for the third time!
We drove past Organ Pipes (magma cooled quickly to form basalt columns) towards Burnt Mountain ( contact metamorphism – metamorphosed by being close to very hot magma). Past Burnt mountain we began to think we were getting back into wilderness again.
In 2018, we had stayed at the Twyfelfontein Country Lodge and drove in the Doros Crater area trying to find Doros Crater. The tracks were so bad I had to get out and fill in large holes with rocks before Nigel could drive over them. Now the tracks were well defined, and even signposted. And of course, there were all those no entry signs which had upset us on the way out. Things change, and Namibia’s wilderness, which is so attractive to us, is clearly attracting other people to the point that it won’t be wilderness any more. We were so lucky to have experienced it when we did.
For a while as we drove in the plains area. Doros Crater dominated, which was seemed so strange as we had such difficulty trying to find it in 2018. But I guess we now knew what it looked like. We had found it, climbed it, and circumnavigated it, over a period of several trips. I still found it amazing that it erupted millions of years ago, but looked like some of the recently erupted Icelandic volcanoes we had seen.
We visited a waterhole we had gone to in 2020, and had lunch in sight of the crater.
We left the dominance of Doros Crater and entered an area of tight canyons and dark rocks. It is an area looking like crinkled paper in satellite images. The tracks carefully picked routes through the canyons, occasionally popping up on the top of the ridges.
The drive was difficult, and at one point a sandy mountain side looked almost impossible, but Nigel managed it.
The views weren’t great because of the steep canyons, but it had an awe inspiring uniqueness. It was a wonderful, if rather claustrophobic, landscape.
When we had come to this area earlier in our holiday, we had been keeping an eye out for a stone labyrinth. Labyrinths (not to be confused with a maze which has dead ends) are ancient meditation aids. I regularly walk one in my hometown, and loved the idea of being able to walk one in the middle of such amazing landscape. However, we hadn’t found it a few weeks before, and I had forgotten about it.
Around 2pm we had finished lunch, I was looking at something out the window of the car, and suddenly spotted the labyrinth. It was a good three to four hour drive from any campsite or habitation, over difficult 4 x4 4 tracks. It can not have many visitors. I do not know who created it, or the story behind it. It was the ultimate folly, but in this climate a stone will stay put for centuries. Whoever made it, has left a long term legacy. I had read about it in a Namibian 4 wheel drive Facebook page, and it was marked on google maps (although that hadn’t helped us find it!).
We stopped at the labyrinth, and I took photos to share on the Worldwide Labyrinth Society’s Facebook page. Nigel offered to wait while I walked it, but we were a bit short of time to get to Rhino Camp before dark. Also, it was nearly 40c in the shade. I didn’t think I could withstand the heat walking it, and the heat would have probably negated any meditative effect. We drove on.
We continued and got to a cross tracks (it couldn’t be called cross ‘roads’). One way went to the track we wanted to follow to Rhino Camp, the other went down Divorce Pass to Rhino Camp.
Divorce Pass leads from the Doros Crater Conservancy into the Ugab Valley. It is the second most difficult track in Namibia. It features in the World’s Most Dangerous Road website. Its difficulty is well known, and some hire companies do not allow you to drive their hire cars through it because it is so treacherous. Bushlore have a more pragmatic approach – if you louse up on it, you pay!
In 2017 we had walked part of it, which made us understand why it was a problem – and we hadn’t even got to the worst bit. I should also mention that shortly after we had walked it, a man also walking it to see if they could drive it, was badly attacked by a lion.
We did not intend to drive down Divorce Pass, and were hoping to take a track to the right. However, the road in that direction was washed out. We either had to drive down Divorce Pass, or drive three hours back to the next turning. And Nigel loves a challenge.
Nigel did it. He drove down Divorce Pass. We didn’t divorce, but I understand how it got its name.
It was extremely scary for the passenger, who looks down a sheer drop into a ravine. One false move and we would have been down the ravine. I couldn’t look.
The track was worse at the bottom of the pass where we had walked all those years ago. There were big holes, and Nigel had to get out to inspect the track, and work out where to put the wheels, but we made it.
The Ugab seemed gentle and friendly when we got to the bottom of Divorce Pass. The landscape of rocky ravines had turned into sandy river beds, and dark cliffs. We shared a beer at the bottom of the Pass, celebrating having ‘done’ Divorce Pass, and headed off to Rhino Camp.
Rhino Camp is beautiful. There is just enough ground water to support some trees and bushes. The canyon is moderately wide here, and the camp is lovely and peaceful. As before, we were the only ones there. We made camp in the same place as before. I opened the flour we had bought in Bersig, and true to his word there were no weevils. We settled down to fresh bread, a pot veggie stew and the peace, which for us, epitomises Rhino Camp.
We heard a noise. At first I thought it was a plane, but as it went on, Nigel says that’s a machine. At that point, the manager’s son arrived and we asked him about the noise. He looked really sad, and said, they were drilling for copper 1 km up the side valley. He said if they find it, it will be the end of the camp. The animals will leave the area. He looked so sad. His mum (Louise) has been here every time we’ve visited, since the first time in 2018.
A little later a huge four wheel drive wheel truck pulled up 500 metres away, and started drawing water from a borehole. Mining is very demanding of water, and they are taking the water which the animals, Louise and the camp need
This is a fascinating geological area and very mineral rich. There are tin and lithium mines 50 km away. We feel very privileged to have experienced what we have, when we have. Namibia is changing fast, and it is wrong of us to want to keep it the same because a few privileged people, like us, can enjoy it. As we drove away from Rhino camp everywhere there were signs of mineral exploration. This is new and wasn’t present when we were here four years ago.
It makes us very sad to see such a wonderful wilderness destroyed. But, we flew here, and did so business class which is environmentally the worst, we’ve driven around in a heavily laden Land Cruiser with appalling fuel consumption, and the photos I’ve posted were taken on an 6 month old IPhone 14. We are the reason they are test drilling!
Desert Wonderers 